From a seat in the rear of the room, observe your students and take notes on what they are doing while the teacher is presenting in the front of the room, while they are supposed to be doing seatwork, and/or when they are working in the lab. Look closely at each student for a range of behaviors, and resist the temptation on only see what you expect. Note especially what is happening furthest from the teacher. What strategies are used by your teacher to encourage students to attend and engage?
How important is student engagement to you view of how you will teach? What strategies will you employ to encourage student engagement?
Observation:
In the two periods i observed this week i put extra focus on the behavior the students while the teacher was lecturing or letting the students do in-class work. I found that while the teacher was presenting new material in the front of the class the students were taking notes quietly. However, occasionally the teacher would go off topic into a side story and he would "lose" the kids who were not directly associated with the story. Those students would often stare blankly off into space or start a side conversation. Because both periods of the Physics 2 (AP/EEP) that i observed were small classes i was unable to observe any students far from the teacher (often they clustered together in the middle of the room).
When the teacher assigned the students (class of six students) to do in-class problems they immediately all got up and moved to the back of the room where there are large tables with chairs around them. One of the students in the class disconnected the speakers from the computer near their table and plugged in his iPod so the group could listen to music while they did the problems together. My CT had no problem with this and i find it important to note he sat near the students (not at his desk in the front of the room).
Reflection:
This observation only further fortifies my belief in how important proper engagement and motivation is for students. By keeping all the students interested my CT was able to explain to them a rather confusing phenomena in life. He began class by going over Angular Momentum with the students. He started by holding a bicycle wheel by the handle which went through the middle. He engaged the students by asking them the obvious: "What will the wheel do if i let the muscles in my wrist relax?". All the students replied with the correct response of how the wheel will fall over on its side. However, the teacher then said, "Look what will happen if i spin the wheel and let my wrist muscles relax". The students were absolutely amazed. And at the time it seemed like magic.
(To remind the reader of what the prior example looks like watch the following video:)
Lastly, the idea of the letting the students listen to music while they work in a group may seem like a crazy notion for a teacher. However, again i digress that all things must be taken into consideration of the situation:
The teacher has had all these students at least once before in Physics 1.
The class was an Honors EEP class of exactly 6 students.
There is a pre-understood set of class rules between both the studetns and the teacher.
All things considered, i feel that the class ran absolutely smoothly with the students and a great deal of the learning took place among all parties.
Class Topic: Angular Momentum (Physics 2) Grade: 2x12 Observed by: David Kenahan
From a seat in the rear of the room, observe your students and take notes on what they are doing while the teacher is presenting in the front of the room, while they are supposed to be doing seatwork, and/or when they are working in the lab. Look closely at each student for a range of behaviors, and resist the temptation on only see what you expect. Note especially what is happening furthest from the teacher. What strategies are used by your teacher to encourage students to attend and engage?
How important is student engagement to you view of how you will teach? What strategies will you employ to encourage student engagement?
Observation:
In the two periods i observed this week i put extra focus on the behavior the students while the teacher was lecturing or letting the students do in-class work. I found that while the teacher was presenting new material in the front of the class the students were taking notes quietly. However, occasionally the teacher would go off topic into a side story and he would "lose" the kids who were not directly associated with the story. Those students would often stare blankly off into space or start a side conversation. Because both periods of the Physics 2 (AP/EEP) that i observed were small classes i was unable to observe any students far from the teacher (often they clustered together in the middle of the room).
When the teacher assigned the students (class of six students) to do in-class problems they immediately all got up and moved to the back of the room where there are large tables with chairs around them. One of the students in the class disconnected the speakers from the computer near their table and plugged in his iPod so the group could listen to music while they did the problems together. My CT had no problem with this and i find it important to note he sat near the students (not at his desk in the front of the room).
Reflection:
This observation only further fortifies my belief in how important proper engagement and motivation is for students. By keeping all the students interested my CT was able to explain to them a rather confusing phenomena in life. He began class by going over Angular Momentum with the students. He started by holding a bicycle wheel by the handle which went through the middle. He engaged the students by asking them the obvious: "What will the wheel do if i let the muscles in my wrist relax?". All the students replied with the correct response of how the wheel will fall over on its side. However, the teacher then said, "Look what will happen if i spin the wheel and let my wrist muscles relax". The students were absolutely amazed. And at the time it seemed like magic.
(To remind the reader of what the prior example looks like watch the following video:)
Lastly, the idea of the letting the students listen to music while they work in a group may seem like a crazy notion for a teacher. However, again i digress that all things must be taken into consideration of the situation:
- The teacher has had all these students at least once before in Physics 1.
- The class was an Honors EEP class of exactly 6 students.
- There is a pre-understood set of class rules between both the studetns and the teacher.
All things considered, i feel that the class ran absolutely smoothly with the students and a great deal of the learning took place among all parties.Class Topic: Angular Momentum (Physics 2)
Grade: 2x12
Observed by: David Kenahan